Spillover of carnage in Mexico undeniable

17 alleged to lead local killing crew

SAN DIEGO COURTS 
Men kidnapped from their homes in broad daylight. Bodies dumped along roadsides and in abandoned cars. Human remains dissolved in acid.

It's the kind of violence seen all too often in some Mexican border cities, where thousands have fallen victim to a prolonged war between drug cartels.

But the indictments of 17 men, both U.S. and Mexican citizens, accused of running a drug-trafficking-and-murder crew called
Los Palillos
in San Diego offer the best proof in recent years that cartel violence has spilled across the border.

Concerns about witness safety in the case, for which convictions could result in the death penalty, have led prosecutors to ask a judge for unusual precautions as the matter inches toward trial.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers recently affirmed a decision to preclude defense lawyers from sharing grand jury transcripts and police reports with the defendants — even though the information is public.

“The fact is, this is not any other murder case,” Rogers said. “I have to assess the case in the context of the gang wars that are going on 20 miles to the south of us in the Republic of Mexico . . .

“The witness-safety issue in this case can only be described as massive.”

Several suspects remain at large.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador, the lead prosecutor, said his office is organizing thousands of pages of paperwork and preparing to turn it over to defense lawyers to share with their clients. Witnesses' contact information is being redacted, though it will be provided separately to the attorneys.

“We're not hiding it from them,” Amador said.

Others say the defendants' constitutional rights are being violated.

“Due process requires that they turn over the discovery now,” said Mary Ellen Attridge, a deputy alternate public defender who represents one of the defendants.

Attridge said that withholding any information, including the large sections already removed from the grand jury transcript, impedes her ability to investigate on her client's behalf.

The approximately 5,000-page transcript, which was recently made public, reveals previously undisclosed details in the complex case.

Los Palillos,
Spanish for “the toothpicks,” owes its name to Victor Rojas Lopez, the older brother of the top defendant in the case. The story of how he got the nickname
“El Palillo”
varies depending on the source. Some say it's a reference to his thin build, others to his spiky hair.

Prosecutors said Rojas, who once headed an enforcement crew for the Arellano-Felix organization, was killed by the cartel in Tijuana in 2002, possibly because of a drug debt.

After his death, the members of
Los Palillos
were no longer safe in Tijuana. When they moved across the border, they brought with them a particular brand of violence, marked by kidnappings, ransom demands and grudge killings, prosecutors said.

Some of their targets had ties to the Arellano-Felix cartel.

After his brother's death, Jorge Rojas Lopez became the leader of prosecutors said.

On Aug. 15, 2004, three bodies were found in a Dodge Caravan parked on Brandywine Avenue in Chula Vista. Two of the victims had been suffocated, their faces covered with duct tape. A third man was shot in the stomach.